Washington, Seoul agree SKorean missiles' range increases to 800km

September 23, 2012, 10:43 UTC+3The longer-range ballistic missiles will be able to "cover" the entire territory of North Korea if they are launched from the area South Korean city of Daejeon

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SEOUL, September 23 (Itar-Tass) — Washington and Seoul have reached a preliminary agreement to increase the range of South Korean ballistic missiles to 800 kilometres, informed sources reported on Sunday.

The agreement permits South Korea to increase the range of developing ballistic missiles from the current 300 to 800 kilometres, thus enabling it to hit main goals in almost the entire territory of the DPRK. At the same time, the permission for weight of warheads will remain unchanged at 500 kilograms. Thus, the longer-range ballistic missiles will be able to "cover" the entire territory of North Korea if they are launched from the area South Korean city of Daejeon.

On the background of North Korea's development of missile arsenal, official Seoul twice - in 1979 and 2001 - tried to revise its missile pact with the United States. Now, North Korean missiles are able to hit anywhere in the South, the Yonhap news agency notes in this regard.

An official announcement of the new agreement on missile weapons between the United States and the Republic of Korea is due in October of the current year, where defence ministers of the two allied countries will have an annual meeting.